What's your process or selecting a new perfume/cologne?

I'm not much of a snob...marketing will do a good job of getting me into a shop to check out a scent. After that...

1. I must spray on myself. If it is awful, I skip it. If it is interesting...I spray a couple more and walk out of the store letting it sit on me a day. If I find myself longing for it by the end of the day or the next day...we have a love match.

- I won't use paper and won't spray it on the salesgirl. I don't see the point...neither of those mediums will reflect how it works on my body. Though I have picked men's scents that way.

Re: What's your process or selecting a new perfume/cologne?

Re: What's your process or selecting a new perfume/cologne?

I research, sample, ask for suggestions, and sniff, but right now I'm going based on houses. That way, I learn a little bit about their aesthetic and their approach to perfumery. It works really well for me because I'm pretty new to this.

Re: What's your process or selecting a new perfume/cologne?

I blind buy a lot...I like the excitement, but I usually know just about what I'm getting with all the reading I do about it. For more expensive niche I test it first. Some I know I'll just love and don't really need to try, like SDV. Or if I can get a great deal I'll probably just buy it...I'm pretty impulsive.

Re: What's your process or selecting a new perfume/cologne?

Quite similar to your methodology, I try a fragrance on my skin. If my interest is piqued sufficiently, I will see how the scent develops beyond the enticing opening, and whether a commitment is warranted.

Re: What's your process or selecting a new perfume/cologne?

I almost always wear something four or five times before deciding to buy a bottle of it. (That means that I typically order samples of them.) One thing I've learned about myself is that I tend to overestimate how much I enjoy a fragrance on the first few wearings; if I used positive first impressions as my criterion, I'd have a lot more bottles and a lot less money! If I still find something very compelling after four or five wears, and if the price of the full bottle is not outrageous, I'll buy it.

Re: What's your process or selecting a new perfume/cologne?

I have a pretty modest collection so far. With the ones I have gotten, I have researched the notes in a particular frag to see if it has ones that I like and is devoid of ones that I do not. I have then bought decants of it.

Re: What's your process or selecting a new perfume/cologne?

I do too many blind-buys, based on reviews and hype. Too lazy to go to store and test it out, or too lazy to order sample and wait 2 weeks. I end up selling or swapping if I don't like something - advantage of buying hyped-up fragrances.

Re: What's your process or selecting a new perfume/cologne?

Originally Posted by L'Incandescent

I almost always wear something four or five times before deciding to buy a bottle of it. (That means that I typically order samples of them.) One thing I've learned about myself is that I tend to overestimate how much I enjoy a fragrance on the first few wearings; if I used positive first impressions as my criterion, I'd have a lot more bottles and a lot less money! If I still find something very compelling after four or five wears, and if the price of the full bottle is not outrageous, I'll buy it.

I agree, I've often liked something after a wearing or two, only to find that - no, I don't like it enough to even think of bothering with it again, or in a couple of cases, absolutely can't stand the smell, I like to do four or five wearings. I will say that I need to love a fragrance, not just like it, to purchase it. And if I do love it and can't afford a full bottle, I'll buy the largest decant that I can afford.

Re: What's your process or selecting a new perfume/cologne?

Originally Posted by mikesc

After sampling it for a day I usually let my wife smell it just to be sure she isn't repulsed by it. We usually agree so I am good so far.

+1. thats how i usually get a new frag. try it on my skin and ask my girlfriend or girl-friends for their opinion. Usually those I dont really enjoy she wouldnt like them too so its quite safe. Only one I might have problem with would be L'Artisan Havana Vanille. She insisted its too edible hahaha.

Re: What's your process or selecting a new perfume/cologne?

I also try to spray a fragrance multiple times before purchasing. My tastes have changed so quickly, that I have a hard time simply buying based on my wardrobe, so I test repeatedly. I have found that some fragrances that I wasn't crazy about initially end up being some of my favourites!

Re: What's your process or selecting a new perfume/cologne?

Originally Posted by RiveGaucheInstead

that actually sounds ridiculously fun!

This is how I MOSTLY buy. Sometimes people will recommend a fragrance for me but they are almost always similar to what I already have. I tend to buy the same fragrance (based on notes) over and over again. Different designer, different names, similar notes.

Re: What's your process or selecting a new perfume/cologne?

I've worked mostly in art museums and tend to use an art museum approach: buy some houses in depth, carefully considering their reputation with the critics, look for classics and future classics, get some contemporary stuff that is a bit shocking, fall in love with a few, add representatives of certain eras and attitudes, seek a balance of historical well-roundedness and personal taste. Not everything has to be sampled first in this system.